Eagles Training Camp Practice Notes: Jalen Hurts strikes back

EAGLES PRACTICE NOTES

• JALEN HURTS UPDATE: Monday was a bounce back performance from Hurts and the offense after they were bested by Vic Fangio’s defense in the previous two practices. Encouraging to see.
  • THE GOOD:
    • The first-team offense was aided by going up against the second-team defense during the first 11-on-11 series. Hurts found Dontayvion Wicks crossing to the left downfield for a chunk gain. Hurts hit DeVonta Smith on an out to beat Mac McWilliams along the right sideline.
    • Hurts’ success wasn’t limited to facing the Eagles’ backup defenders. During 7-on-7, Hurts made his flashiest completion of camp thus far by throwing with anticipation over the middle into the end zone to split the safeties and connect with Elijah Moore for a touchdown.
    • Hurts found Darius Cooper for multiple completions over the middle.
    • During a red zone sequence, Hurts hit DeVonta on another out route for a touchdown. The Eagles lined up to go for a two-point conversion and Hurts rolled to his right only to throw across his body to find DeVonta again, who made the grab despite being tightly covered by Riq Woolen.
    • During another red zone sequence, Hurts took a shotgun snap and pretended to drop back before taking off running to the end zone untouched for a score. This wasn’t a case where the quarterback benefited from wearing the red jersey that reminds defenders not to get close to him. This was about Hurts correctly identifying a weakness in the defense and exposing it with his legs. Hurts and his offense teammates were fired up to celebrate this score.
  • THE BAD:
    • Hurts did throw a pick six to Quinyon Mitchell in 7-on-7 … but it looked like there was a miscommunication with Moore stopping his route earlier than the quarterback expected.
    • Hurts held the ball for a long time and got “sacked” by either Jalen Carter or Jordan Davis (unclear which) at one point.
    • Hurts sailed a downfield pass to Tank Bigsby, who had a step on Zack Baun (but not by much), over the running back’s head and out of bounds. The wheel route is no longer undefeated.
    • Hurts had a pass deflected at the line by Jalen Carter. Fortunately for the offense, the ball landed in Hollywood Brown’s hands for a short gain.

• EAGLES INJURY UPDATES:
  • DID NOT PARTICIPATE:
    • OT Lane Johnson (excused absence/not injury related)
      • Johnson also missed Saturday’s practice. It’s unclear what’s been keeping him away.
    • OG Micah Morris (shoulder)
    • S Cole Wisniewski (hamstring)
    • EDGE Keyshawn James-Newby (ankle)
    • OG Jaedan Roberts (calf contusion)
      • Roberts was carted off the field on Saturday but he reportedly avoided a major injury. Good news.
  • LIMITED PARTICIPATION:
    • WR Makai Lemon (?)
      • Lemon was not listed on the team-issued injury report but he didn’t appear to participate in team drills. I couldn’t find him again after seeing him take part in some individual drills early in practice. Something to monitor. UPDATE: The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane says that “whatever it was that limited Makai Lemon at practice, I’m told it wasn’t significant.”
    • OT Cameron Williams (knee contusion)
      • Williams was able to partake in some team drill activity.
  • RETURNED TO PRACTICE:
    • WR Elijah Moore and LB Jihaad Campbell were back in action after being excused from Saturday’s practice.
• Fred Johnson saw the first first-team reps at right tackle with Lane Johnson not practicing but Markell Bell also rotated in. Bell previously saw first-team right tackle action during spring practices but these were his first reps with the starters this summer.
• Good practice for the Eagles’ roster bubble wide receivers. Elijah Moore ran a sharp route to get open in the middle of the field for a completion of at least 15 yards. He later caught a touchdown from Hurts, as previously mentioned. Darius Cooper caught everything thrown his way, including when he made a diving grab on a Hurts throw over the middle. Johnny Wilson made a couple catches over the middle on passes from Andy Dalton. Wilson did fail to secure a Tanner McKee pass to him that was a little low but still catchable.
• BACKUP QUARTERBACK BATTLE UPDATE: Dalton was first up as the Eagles’ QB2 in 11-on-11 but the Eagles rotated him and Tanner McKee. Dalton looked sharper than McKee on Monday; the 38-year-old veteran quarterback ripped the ball over the middle to Wilson for multiple first downs. Dalton’s red zone sequence resulted in a touchdown pass to a wiiide open Will Shipley in the flat before he found Hollywood Brown on an out route for the successful two-point conversion. McKee seemed guilty of holding the ball too long at times and he wasn’t able to cash in during his red zone opportunity. Dalton has the edge over McKee early in camp.
• I like what I’ve seen from A.J. Epenesa in camp thus far; he’s been active. Epenesa “sacked” McKee while rotating in as a first-team edge rusher. Seems like he might be a nice rotational player. (RELATED READING — Eagles Film Review: A.J. Epenesa signing is very sensible.)
• Chance Campbell was in good position to stop a Saquon Barkley stretch run to the right side early in practice.
• Nolan Smith had tight coverage on Stone Smartt to force a short incompletion during 7-on-7. He celebrated with an exuberant incompletion motion right in front of Smartt after the play.
• Moro Ojomo totally blew up a run in the backfield while going up against the second-team offense.
• I wrote down Eli Stowers’ name twice in my notes today. The first time was when he made a short catch on a play where McKee rolled right and threw a short pass to him. Stowers immediately got shoved out of bounds by Zack Baun. Later, Stowers couldn’t make a catch with edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie covering him. Stowers wanted a flag on the defense but the practice refs did not throw one.
• Cole Payton continues to be fearless. The rookie quarterback took a downfield shot to Erik Ezukanma, who got his hands on the ball but couldn’t control it to the ground with three defenders very close to him. Payton connected with Dae’Quan Wright for a catch-and-run touchdown. Wright wasn’t shy to initiate contact to power his way into the end zone. The undrafted rookie tight end’s desire to bulldoze through defenders is apparent from his college highlights. Tariq Castro-Fields got his hands on a Payton pass that Ezukanma was able to stay with and make the grab on a bouncing ball. Payton more cleanly hit Smartt for a two-point conversion.
• Quez Watkins almost made a sick one-handed catch in the back of the end zone via a McKee pass but it was ruled that he did not get both feet in. Yes, Quez Watkins is still on the team and has been since he returned to Philly on the practice squad last season.
• Veteran cornerback Jonathan Jones was flagged for defensive holding in the end zone while going up against Hollywood Brown in a red zone sequence. Not the best practice for Jones, who also gave up a touchdown to DeVonta.
• Undrafted rookie free agent safety Maximus Pulley made a diving grab that was ruled incomplete for not getting both feet in. McKee forced the pass into the end zone during a two-point conversion try. Good effort by Pulley.
• UAR BERNARD UPDATE: I’ve seen some BGN commenters ask about how the Eagles’ intriguing seventh-round defensive tackle is doing. So, here’s what I’ve got. Bernard’s not getting many reps, which is typical for third/fourth string defensive linemen. I only saw one of his 1-on-1 offensive line versus defensive line reps since that action was happening on the opposite side of the field while 7-on-7 was concurrently taking place right in front of me. From what I did see, Bernard looked very upright in his rush and was easily held off. Again, to be expected from such a raw player. It was good to see Bernard in the area of a coverage “sack” on Cole Payton during the developmental period late in practice.

• Maybe the defense didn’t have their best day today because the Eagles’ defensive coordinator was distracted by the Phillies’ action ahead of the MLB trade deadline? Fangio was probably checking out The Good Phight’s coverage of those moves.

• In case you missed it, I joined The Ringer’s Philly Special podcast to talk Eagles training camp takeaways thus far with Sheil Kapadia and Ace Producer Cliff Augustin. Also got into some LeBron James/Sixers/Phillies talk.